15 years.  It was my 2nd job.  I'm currently in year 12 of this job.  Hopefully I'll break my 15 year record.

Well, Gee, I just did it.  I went "home again."

One year ago I left a job I had been in for 10 years as an executive assistant. I left for a "better opportunity" and because of problems with the latest CEO at the company. I chose to leave quietly because of the new opportunity. I burned no bridges with anyone.  The new job was for more money, better benefits, more interesting work, etc.

To make a long story short, the new job at my new company was not what I envisioned, I was very unhappy. In the meantime the CEO at my old job left the company.

After 10 months I decided to leave my new job. I contacted the VP of HR at my old company to ask if I could use her as a personal reference while I job hunted again.  She agreed and said she wished there was something for me at my old company - but there wasn't.  Two days later, someone quit at my old company. They had to follow company policy and post the job internally, but no one was qualified and I was offered the job.

I'm back at my old company, but in a new dept. I still do exec assistant work but also have more challenging work to do than before.

I guess I am an example of "yes, you can go home again."  In fact, on my first day there was a beautiful plant on my desk with a balloon that said "Welcome Home!".

Edited by glow8490 on 11/04/09 07:46 PM.

At my last job, one of our customers was a father/son-owned business.  Two nicer gentlemen you would never meet and they both looked old enough to be retired. They always came in together and it was difficult to figure out who was the father and who was the son. (My boss did tell me they were only about 18 years apart in age.) Both men were tall and thin, but the son had a full head of gray hair and his father had a full head of black hair (obviously dyed).  That always amused me when I saw them.

glow

I won't be watching the inauguration, but like everything else newsworthy, I will catch the highlights over and over again on all the news and entertainment stations.  I did not cast my vote for President Obama, but I do hope he's got what it takes to help turn our country around and I wish him and his family all the best.

What amazes me is the rock star/movie star regime surrounding this inauguration -- all the actors, musicians and talk show hosts ready to put in their 2 cents worth.  Their personal opinions do not influence me except maybe to sway my beliefs in the opposite direction because it gets so annoying.

What's your impression of a department head who does the following? Yes, it's my boss, the CFO of the company.

About half of our department was working on December 23; the rest were on vacation already. We had planned early on through a series of emails to have a "potluck" luncheon; everyone still working brought in something to share for lunch.

My boss came in to work for half a day and planned to leave at noon (when we were scheduled to eat). I asked him to please join us. There were about 12 of us having lunch together.  

I fully did not expect him to stay. That's just the kind of person he is, but I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for him to connect with his staff. He could have stopped by and said something like, "Sorry I can't stay, I've got an appointment, but I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Enjoy your lunch." That would have really gone far to score points with everyone and melt the ice. No such luck; he snuck out without a word.

This guy is really a cold fish!

My husband and I are traveling this week and were able to vote early in our state. My son was at the polls at 6:00 am when they opened and just finished at 8:00 am. I never remember it taking 2 hours to vote.

It's going to be a l-o-n-g election day.

Auditing expense reports of employees who submit them after they take an international trip!! Rarely do conversion rates match; they lump the entire hotel bill under "hotel room" instead of dividing out by meals, parking, incidentals, etc. It's a headache!

Glow

I should add, in all 3 instances of the people I know who have been terminated, they had to sign separation agreements not to pursue any legal action against the company (regarding age discrimination, etc.) before they were given their severance packages.

The company should have a standard retirement policy in place.  I have heard lately of many people being terminated, but companies allowing it to be called retirement so the employee can "save face".

If this is actually a termination or lay-off (instead of a retirement), then the norm in my area for fairly large companies has been 1 week severance pay for every year of service, assistance in new job search, and I believe, depending on company size, COBRA (medical insurance) for 18 months, if needed. The company doesn't pay for the medical insurance, you are just allowed to continue it at full cost which is usually a lot more than what you paid through the company while employed. I recently had 2 close friends and a close family member laid-off from their jobs (in 2 different midwest cities) and their pkgs were almost identical. One had been at their job 24 years; one over 25 years, and the other 20 years. A privately-held company I know of actually gave 2 weeks severance pay for every year of service up to 1 year's pay.

Hope this helps.

I've been at my new job for 4 months now and I guess "the honeymoon is over".  I enjoy the work that I'm given from my boss, but there is not enough of it. I went from one extreme to the other. I do let him know I need more to do, thinking maybe he hasn't passed on everything to me yet, but I think he has at this point and now he's looking for things (from other dept employees) to add to my job.

But..........I just walked into the breakroom to get my lunch and there were 3 employees in there complaining about how gross the refrigerator was and didn't I know it was my job to send out a notice to everyone to get rid of their stuff inside by a certain date because I would be cleaning it. They were not hostile about it and kind of made it into a joke, but did emphasize that, yes, that was one of my job duties. Hm......I don't think I signed on for that one.

One of the reasons I left my old job was because of all the menials tasks I took on because no one else would.  Would you clean the fridge?

This typo (done by the HR admin.) has stuck in my mind for years. At a previous job I had in the early 90's we always had a weekly company newsletter waiting at the front receptionist every Monday morning.  One week there was a reference in the newsletter that some company information was being made available to all employees, but they had to submit a 5 1/4" floppy disk to H.R. to get a copy of the info. Unfortunately the H.R. admin. typed "floppy dick" instead of floppy disk. Glad it wasn't me doing the typing!

I just started a new job 2 weeks ago (which I'm loving, by the way).  I got the job mentioned in the previous thread I started "Out of the Blue".  

Before I got this new job I had 2 cell phones, 1 for work and one for personal. I chose to do it that way, because I wanted my personal life to be just that - personal and not connected in any way to work. If you saw any of my previous posts, my old boss wanted that work cell phone on 24/7 and got irritated if he couldn't reach me.

What a relief to have only one cell phone now! And at this new job all cell phones must be silent or on vibrate in the office.

Glow

I think the interview went really well, but time will tell.  Funny story - I arrived 30 minutes early since I wasn't sure how long it would take me to drive to the offices. I ended up sitting in the lobby for quite awhile with an old, crabby receptionist who I decided was also hard of hearing. Shortly after "old, crabby receptionist" left her station for a break, my old colleague who had recommended me for the job (and I hadn't seen in 11 years) came out to see me and take me back to meet some of her coworkers. After chatting with them for awhile, "old, crabby receptionist" came up behind me to let me know in a quiet voice that my skirt was caught up in my panty hose!! Thank goodness for "old, crabby receptionist". She saved me before my interviews started.  She's now my new best friend!

Glow

I haven't purchased any new clothes for my interviews.  Here's what I've worn.  I'll let you know if it was lucky (see my post from 3/25 on "Out of the Blue"). Initial coffee meeting - taupe skirt, white blouse, navy jacket and navy accessories & shoes. Yesterday at the company - black doublebreasted jacket, white blouse, dotted swiss crepe black skirt, black heels and modest silver jewelry. Yesterday I was "overdressed" for their office, but it felt right.

Glow

I have an interview this afternoon!! Coffee with the CFO 2 weeks ago went well and then he was out of the office until this week. Today I see the VP of HR and then the CFO again for an official interview. Surprisingly, I'm not a nervous wreck. The job seems like one I would really, really like. The positives outweigh the negatives which are:  longer drive to/from work and higher taxes (There's a 1% city tax.) Both of those would hit me in the pocketbook. Salary never came up yet either. Will let you know how it goes.

Glow